C horris peters co



' No. 627,38l.

W. BILLS.

REGISTER FOR GRAIN DRILLS.

(Application led Nov. 6, 1897.)

Patented lune 20; |899.

UNITED STATESd `lhrrENr OFFICE.

'WILMONT ILLS, OF DOVVAGIAC, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR TO THE DOVAGTAC MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

REGISTER FOR GRAIN-DRILLS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of iLetters Patent No. 627,381, dated. .T une 2 0, 1899.

Application filed November 6, 1897. Serial No. 657,666. (No model.)

To all whom t may concern: tional view through one of the registering- Be it known that I, WILMONT BILLS, a citidials, indicating the tension device rfor prezen of the United States, residing at Dowa venting said dial from slipping. Y y

giac, in the county of Cass and State of Michi- Like numerals of reference denote corre- 5 gan, have invented a new and useful Regis spending parts in each of the several figures 55 ter for Grain-Drills, of which the following is of the drawings.

a specification. The frame l of myimproved register is cast My invention relates to improvements in into a singlepiece of metal, substantially in registers for grain-drills; and the object that the form indicated by Fig. 3 of the drawings.

1o l have in View is to provide a simple and This frame consists of a substantially circu- 6o compact construction by which the acreage lar base 2 anda yoke 3, which extends radially planted by the operation of the drill may be from one side of the base. The base has an accurately registered to indicate to the owner annular rib or flange 4 projecting from the the area under cultivation. rear side thereof, and within said rib or flange i5 A further object of the invention is to prois a conical boss 5, which is concentric to said 65 vide an improved construction of the regisrib or liange and forms therewith an annular ter which may be used to good advantage in socket 6. At the outer end of the conical boss connection with drills or seeders of different is a polygonal seat 7, which protrudes beyond kinds, the register being so constructed that the edge of the annular rib or flange 4, and

2O it may readily and quickly be attached to the through said conical boss and the polygonal 7o drill or seeder. or angular seat 7 is formed a transverse open- A further object of the invention is to so ing S. In the front side of the supportingconstruct and arrange the various parts that frame l a depression or channel 9 is produced the register members or dials will not slip or when the frame is cast, and into this channel 25 Inove except when positively actuated by the or depression opens the aperture 8, which is 75 register-actuating shaft, which is operatively adapted to receive a clamping-bolt 10, the connected through suitable gearing with the head l1 of which is fitted or contained within seed-dropping shaft of the drill or seeder. the channel 9 to be held thereby against ro- Vith these ends in view the invention contation when the thumb-nut l2 is manipulated 3o sists in the novel combination of elements for the purpose of connecting the various 8o and in the construction and arrangement of parts together. The yoke 3 terminates in a parts, which will be hereinafter fully dehead 13, which forms the journal-bearing for scribed and claimed. the actuator-shaft 14:. This actuator-shaftis To enable others to understand my in venarranged longitudinally within the yoke, and

35 tion,I have illustrated the preferred e1nbodi said shaft is provided with a fin or rib 15, 85 ment thereof in the accompanying drawings, which extends from the terminal head of the forming a part of this specification, and in yoke to the inner extremity of the shaft to whichl Y enable said shaft to be used in connectionl Figure lis a rear elevation of part of aseedwith units-dials having their ratchet-teeth 4o planter or grain-drill with my improved regplaced at different radial distances on the rear 9o ister applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a vertical lonfaces thereof. gitudinal sectional view through apart of the Projecting from the yoke 3 of the supportplanter and the register on the pla-ne indiing-frame is a bracket or arm 16, which is incated by the dotted line 2 2 of Fig. l. Fig. 3 tegral with said yoke and is formed at its free 45 is a detail perspective view of the supporting lower extremity with a fork l7,and this forked 95 frame forming one of the elements of the imend of the bracket or arm is arranged to stradproved register. Figs. 4c and 5 are detail dlea worm-gear l8,which is fitted on the seedviews of units-dials of different constructions dropping shaft 19 of the grain drill or planter. i .adapted for use in connection with the regis- This worin-gear meshes with a beveled gear 5o ter-actuating shaft. Fig. 6 is a detail sec 20, fastened to the lower extremity of the ac- Ico tuator-shaft 14, and said actuator-shaft is thus geared directly to the seed-dropping shaft to be rotated positively thereby.

The registering-wheels are housed or contained within a easing 21, which is cast in disk form with a raised dange 21. The casing is provided with a slot 22 and with apertures 23 24, and it is also provided with a central bearing or boss 25.

From the polygonal seat 7 protrudes a eircular boss 26, which is coincident with the correspondingly-formed boss 25 of the casing, and these bosses are adapted to aline with each other and to abut together, so as to form a journal on which the units-dial 27 is mounted for free rotation. This units-dial is of a diameter proper to fit within the annular casing 21 of the register, and it has a central opening or orifice of such diameter as to en.- able it to fit snugly on the registering-bosses 25 26 of the casing and the frame 1 of said register. This units-dial is provided on one face thereof with a series of teeth 28, which' are spaced at regular intervals and are substantially V-shaped in form,as shown by Figs. 4 and 5. These V-shaped teeth 28 of the unitsdial lie in the path of the longitudinal rib or fin 15 of the register-actuating shaft 14, and said teeth are spaced apart at the proper intervals to provide su flicient clearance between the fin of the register-actuating shaft when the latter is rotated, whereby said shaft 14 is prevented from moving the units-dial beyond the proper predetermined distance. This units-dial is held under tension to prevent it from moving idly or under any conditions except by the positive impingement of the iin of the register-actuating shaft thereon, and the tension device for such dial is arranged in compact relation to the supporting-frame and the dial against which it presses. This tension device consists of a spiral or coil spring 29, which is seated in the annular socket 6, provided for its reception between the rib or iange 4c and the conical boss 5 of the su pporting-frame, and said spring is held securely in place by said rib and the boss, while at the same time it is free to expand and contract in the direction of its length in order to have the necessary frictional contact with one face of the units-dial. To prevent the spring from rotating with the units-dial and from retarding the proper rotation thereof by reason of the frictional contact between the spring,the supporting-frame,and the dial, I interpose a metallic washer 30 between one end of the spring and a face of the units-dial, and said washer is prevented from turning with the dial by providing a polygonal opening 31 in the washer and iitting the washer to the polygonal seat 7 at the outer extremity of the conical boss 5, forming a part of the supporting frame l.

snugly to the polygonal seat 7, to be held thereby against axial rotation while having theproper frictional contact with one face of the units-dial, and said washer is substan- This Washer 30 ts* tially flush with the face of said polygonal seat, so that the boss 26 only is exposed for the units-dial to ride thereon.

The units-dial is provided on its front face with a number of iigures--say from O to 15, inclusive-which figures are so positioned on the dial as to be exposed through the slot 22 in the casing 2l. The tens-wheel 32 is journaled on a pin or arbor 32'LL in position for its numerals to be exposed through the opening 23, while the hundreds-wheel 33 is likewise journaled on a pin or arbor33 to have its figures exposed through the other opening 24k in said casing. Each wheel 32 33 is held from undue rotation by the binding action of an elastic disk or washer 32h, and said disk or wash er is applied or fitted against the rear side of its proper disk, which is fastened to the arbor or pin in a suitable wayas, for instance, by heading or swaging the inner end of said arbor against the disk, substantially as shown in Fig. G--ewhereby the tension-disk is caused to bind or impinge against the registering-wheel to hold the lat-v ter in place by -frictional contact and yet permit the registering-wheel to move a limited distance when positively actuated by the working elements of the machine.

The units-dial 27 is provided with a stud 25a, arranged to engage with any one of a series of tangential teeth 36, formed on the peripheral edge of the tens wheel or dial 32, and one of the teeth 36n of said units dial or disk 32 is longer than the other teeth 36 thereof, so that said long tooth 36n is adapted to engage with any one of the series of tangential teeth 37, formed on the peripheral edge of the hundreds wheel or dial 33.

rhe bolt 10 passes through the conical boss, the polygonal stud, and the cylindrical boss 26 of the supporting-frame l, and it also passes through the central opening in the unitsdial and the boss 25 of the casing 21. The head 11 of said bolt lO is housed and held from rotation in the channel 9 of the supporting frame, and the protruding threaded end of this bolt receives a thumb or winged nut 12,'

which binds against the exposed front side of the casing 21, whereby a single bolt only is necessary to hold the operative parts of the register in proper relation to each other.

The worm-gear 1S is provided with an anguiar or polygonal opening or hub 13a to adapt it to t on the seed-dropping shaft 19 of the drill or planter in a manner to rotate with said shaft, and, if desired, the hub of said worm-gear may be provided with notches to receive a fastening pin or key for the purpose of holding the worm-gear against sidewise displacement on said shaft 19. It is not strietlynecessary to employ a means for holding this worm-gear against sidewise displace* ment, because the forked arm 17 of the supporting-frame 1 loosely embraces this wormgear and serves to hold the same in proper position with relation to the beveled gear 2O on the register-actuating shaft.

IOO

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IIS

My improved register is readily applied to any ordinary grain-drill. It is only necessary to fit the worm-gear 18 on the shaft 19 of said drill and to fasten the supporting-frame 1 to the seed hopper or box, such attachment of the supporting-frame being readily effected by means of screws or their equivalents, which may be passed through openings inthe base 2. The worm-gear 18 is positioned on the shaft to engage with the beveled gear 20, and the worm-gear itself is engaged by the forked arm 17 to be free to rotate therein.

When the machine is in motion, the wormgear 1S is rotated to drive the shaft 14. At each revolution of this shaft 14 its iin 15 strikes one of the teeth 2S on the units-dial to feed the latter with a step-by-step mot-ion, and when the units-dial makes one complet-e revolution its stud 35 strikes one of the teeth 36 on the tens-dial 32. The latter dial at every complete revolution rotates the hundreds-dial through the medium of its long tooth 36 striking one of the teeth 37 on said hundreds-dial, and thus all the dials of the register are actuated successively and progressively to indicate the total acreage planted by the machine.

Myimproved register is adapted for use in connection with grain drills of different classes by providing interchangeable unitsdials having teeth which vary in number. In Fig. 4 I have illustrated a units-dial with a large number of teeth adjacent to its edge or periphery; but in Fig. 5 the units-dial has a smaller number of teeth arranged in annular series quite close to the central opening, by which the dial is supported on the alined bosses 25 26 of the register. The casing 21 of the register is readily removed by simply detaching the thumb-nut and withdrawing the casing from the bolt, after which one dial can be easily slipped off the bolt, another dial placed in position, and the casing and thumbnut replaced to connect and hold the parts in their proper positions for operation.

I am aware that changes in the form and proportion of parts and in the details of construction may be made by a skilled mechanic without departing from the spirit or sacrificing the advantages of the invention, and I therefore desire to reserve the right to make such modifications and alterations as fairly fall within the scope of the invention.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new, and desired to be secured by Letters Patent, is

1. In a grain-register, a supporting-frame provided with a forked arm, and a drivingt gear which is embraced loosely by said forked arm to beheld thereby from displacement in relation to the operative parts of the register, combined with a casing hav-ing registering devices, and an actuator-shaft driven by said gear and operatively connected with said registering devices, substantially as described.

2. In a grain-register, a supporting-frame provided with a yoke and with an extended ed axially on the supporting-frame for rotation within the casing, and an actuator-shaft journaled in the yoke and geared at one end to said worm-gear, said actuator-shaft being arranged at one side of the register-dial and engaging intermittently therewith as it is driven by the worm-gear, substantially as described.

3. In a grain-register, a supporting-frame havinga circular protruding boss, a casing also formed with a circular boss which is coincident with the boss of the frame and forms therewith a journal, and means for clamping the frame and casingtogether, in combination with a register-dial fitted loosely on the journal formed by the coincident bosses of the frame and casing, means for actuating said dial, and a spring brake device housed between the frame and casin g to act against the register-dial, substantially as described.

4. In a grain-register, a supporting-frame having a disk, an annular flange on one face of the disk, a conical boss within said flange and forming therewith an annular springcavity, and a cylindrical boss projecting beyond the conical boss and the annular iiange, combined with a casing having a tubular boss which is coincidentwith the cylindrical boss of the frame and forms therewith a journal, a bolt which passes through the coincident bosses of the frame and casing,a sprin ghoused Within the cavity formed by the conical boss and flange of the frame, a register-dial fitted on the journal-bosses, and means for actuating the dial, substantially as described.

5. In a grain-drill register, a supportingframe provided with a spring-receiving socket and with a Vpolygonal seat, in combination with a casing, a registering-dial, a tensionspring seated Within the socket, and a washer or disk connected to and held from rotation by the polygonal seat of the supporting-frame and situated between the registering-dial and said tension-spring, and an actuator mechanism for said registering-dial, substantially as and for the purposes described.

6. In a grain-drill register, a supportingframe provided with an extended yoke and with a projecting forked arm, combined with an actuator-shaft journaled in said yoke and provided with a fin and with a gear, a wormgear which meshes with said gear of the actuator-shaft and is confined in place in operative relation thereto by said forked arm, and a registering-dial actuated by the n of said actuator-shaft, substantially as and for the purposes described.

7. A grain-drill register comprising a supporting-frame having an extended yoke, a forked arm and a protruding boss, a casing having a protruding boss which alines with the boss of the supporting-frame and forms therewith a journal, a through-bolt for de- IOO IIO

taohably holding the easing on said supporting-frame, a registering-dial mounted on the journal provided by the bosses of the frame and the easing, a tension-spring seated in the supporting-frame, a non-rotatable friction plate er disk interposed between said tensionspring and the registering-dial, an actuatorshaft journaled in the yoke of the supporting'- frame and having a 1in which engages with said actuator-dial, a Worrn=gear loosely conA ned by the fork and geared to the actuatoreer/,esi 

